With the arrival of Reliance Jio, the sole provider of 4G VoLTE services, other industry majors have stepped up their efforts to join the VoLTE rival. Telecom majors like Bharti Airtel and BSNL are all set to go VoLTE by March next year.
Now we have another player in the quartet, gearing up for the jump to VoLTE. Idea Cellular is all set to introduce voice over LTE services by early next year. Although we don’t have a specific launch date here. Analysts have predicted the phasing out of 3G quickly with carriers hastening their efforts to bring VoLTE to Indian users.
Further, Idea Cellular will also be laying down 4G supporting 2300 MHz and 2500 MHz spectrum bands this year itself in five of its key markets. This deployment should enhance the position of Idea in those markets.
Just a day earlier, Gopal Vittal, MD of Airtel talking to media, said that the 3G service provider is already testing the VoLTE network in 5-6 key areas. Airtel will be ready with the new standard by the end of Q1 2018. The Sunil-Mittal run telco is working with Nokia to lay the foundations of the next-gen network.
